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Reporter’s Field Guides
MAKING TRANSPARENCY LAWS WORK FOR YOUR REPORTING
August 27, 2025
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Showing 511 - 520 of 1471 results
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Posts
FAC Urges L.A. City Council to Reject Ban on Certain Epithets at Council Meetings
April 28, 2025
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Asked and Answered
Is it normal to receive multiple CPRA extensions for months?
I submitted a PRA Request almost a year ago. For months, I received semi-monthly updates that the agency needed to get the files from state archives. The most recent letter states that the agency is still reviewing my request for "confidential, privileged, or otherwise exempt" information under the CPRA. The letter provided a future […]April 24, 2025
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Cases
Sacramento Television Stations, Inc. v. Superior Court
This amicus brief argues that when police officers shoot at people, public agencies have to disclose recordings of the entire incident, not just a snippet before shots are fired, and that agencies cannot withhold such recordings without proving that disclosure would substantially interfere with an ongoing investigation by endangering a witness or confidential source or […]January 11, 2025
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Posts
FAC Calls on California City to End Unconstitutional Public Comment Policy
[…] with the U.S. Constitution. The ordinance states, "Any person making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or who shall become boisterous while addressing the City Council shall be forthwith, by directive of the Presiding Officer, be [sic] barred from further audience at such meeting before the City Council unless permission to continue is granted by […]August 8, 2022
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Posts
FAC Opposes Bills that Weaken Open-Meetings Protections
[…] variety of local and state government bodies to avoid showing up to work in person. FAC opposes: SB 544 SB 411 SB 537 Read our coalition’s opposition letters for SB 544, SB 411, and SB 537. What editorial boards are saying: LA Times: It’s time for California’s public officials to return to work. In person. […]July 12, 2023
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Posts
California’s Computer Privacy Laws Require a Critical Update: SB 178 is it.
[…] don’t have time to get a warrant to prevent loss of life or bodily injury, the bill includes an emergency exception that is coupled with meaningful accountability requirements. S.B. 178 has already passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. But now we need a strong vote in the Assembly and the Governor’s signature. […]August 20, 2015
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Latest News
Illegal immigrants have access rights too. The benefits of the Brown Act and Public Records Act do not depend on citizenship.
[…] answer is yes, they do. This is a question of some consequence in a state that is home to 3.4 million undocumented immigrants, whose eligibility (or ineligibility) for government benefits divides politicians in both parties. And yet this should be a less controversial issue because access rights, in contrast to most government entitlements, are […]June 2, 2009
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Latest News
How FAC Fights for Police Transparency
[…] people should be able to decide whether and to what extent they approve of law enforcement based on the full story, not just the official story. Yet for decades, California was a black hole of police transparency. Apart from a few circumstances, such as the names of officers who shot people, California law shielded […]August 9, 2023
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Latest News
Government officials use personal email and texting to avoid public access laws. Why not use technology to enhance accountability instead of to subvert it?
[…] government in principle. Who would dare say otherwise? In reality, however, they are in a perpetual search, guided by clever lawyers, for new ways to circumvent disclosure requirements--at best, because they view requests for records as a nuisance, and at worst, because they have something to hide (which can range from the merely embarrassing […]August 22, 2009